When members of the Philippine Thai Cultural Organization (PTCO) get together, an integral part of their gathering is good food—usually good Thai food. After all, who would know more about it than they do?

Composed of Filipinos who have lived in Thailand and Thais who live in the Philippines, the PTCO aims to promote, nurture and strengthen the friendship and understanding between the two countries.

One of the group’s recent events was a gala dinner co-organized with the Embassy of Thailand, Tourism Authority of Thailand, Thai Airways and Friends of Thailand. Held at the Poolside Pavilion of Dusit Thani hotel in Makati, the gathering featured a sumptuous spread prepared by Benjarong Restaurant that included larb moo (spicy minced pork salad), shrimp cake, tom kha gai (chicken in coconut galangal soup), hor mok hoy (steamed ground fish with red curry), som tum (papaya salad), gaeng khieo wan nuer (green beef curry) and bua loy (glutinous flour balls with taro and pumpkin in coconut milk).

To spice up the dinner, the Blue Elephant cooking school’s assistant corporate chef Sombat Prongthong demonstrated how to prepare shrimp on crispy catfish as well as fried red curry and crab cake, while Benjarong chef Suwanna Puangdee showed how to make papaya salad.

It wasn’t just about food, however. Dancers—resplendent in gold costumes with glittering headdresses and feathered fans—opened the event with a contemporary version of the traditional Thai blessing dance. On a more narrative note, another performance later in the evening depicted the birth of literature.

Here’s Benjarong’s recipe for papaya salad, as I deciphered it from the demonstration during the event (and which I’ve adjusted and kitchen-tested at home). It’s a refreshing mélange of crisp, julienned raw papaya, carrots, green beans, tomatoes and dried shrimps anointed with a dressing of fish sauce, lime juice, sugar, garlic and chili.

Unfortunately, since the very fragrant and juicy Thai lime (called manao) isn’t available in the Philippines, one would have to use lemon juice instead. Still, the dressing’s sweet, spicy, sour and salty flavors are so well-balanced and integrated that it’s hard to tell where one flavor begins and the other ends.

Thai Papaya Salad
(Som tum)

Make the dressing:
2 tablespoon sugar
2 tbsp lime juice or lemon juice
2 tbsp fish sauce
3 cloves garlic
1 bird’s eye chili (siling labuyo), sliced

Stir together the sugar, lime or lemon juice and fish sauce in a saucepan. Heat over low flame until the sugar dissolves completely. Remove from the stove.

With a mortar and pestle, pound the garlic and chili together until smooth. Scrape the mixture into a bowl and pour in the fish sauce dressing. Mix well then set aside.

For the salad:
2-3 green beans (sitaw), cut into 2-inch pieces
Water/ice water (for blanching the beans)
1 medium whole green (raw) papaya
1 medium carrot
2 small tomatoes, sliced in halves
2 tbsp dried small shrimps, refreshed in warm water for about 5 minutes, then drained
2 -3 tbsp chopped (unsalted) peanuts

Blanch the green beans by cooking them in a small pot of boiling water for about one minute. Transfer the beans immediately to a bowl of ice water. Let the beans sit in the ice water for about one to two minutes then transfer to a dry bowl.

Peel the papaya then cut it into thin, long pieces (julienned). Or use a mandolin to shred the papaya. You should have about two cups. Peel the carrot then cut it in the same thin, long pieces as the papaya.

Combine the papaya, carrots, green beans and tomatoes in a large, deep mortar. Or, put them in large wooden salad bowl or in a sturdy stainless steel bowl.

Use a pestle to pound the mixture lightly, just enough so as to drain the tomatoes. In between pounding, stir the mixture occasionally with a spoon.

Add the dried shrimps and pour in the prepared fish sauce dressing. Toss well so that the dressing coats the salad well. Transfer to a serving dish.

Garnish with the peanuts. Serve with roast chicken or roast pork. (The Thais usually serve this with sticky rice.) Makes three to four servings.
For more tips, recipes and stories, visit the author’s blog: www.normachikiamco.com and facebook fan page: www.facebook.com/normachikiamco. Follow on Twitter@NormaChikiamco

Cook’s tips
Use papaya that is firm and not ripe. Otherwise the salad will be soggy.

A good substitute for lemon or lime juice is dayap juice.

For a sweeter dressing, use more sugar.

You can replace the green papaya with green mangoes.